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BYU-Pathway Worldwide President's Report

“A Resource for the Church”

By Clark G. Gilbert

President Russell M. Nelson has said that “Pathway is for the kingdom.” Indeed, BYU-Pathway Worldwide is designed to work wherever the Church is organized.

In 2018, BYU-Pathway Worldwide served over 40,000 students from every U.S. state and 100 countries. The course BYU-Pathway has taken is not anything we could have imagined when it began in 2009. It was an experiment born from a desire to fulfill prophetic direction about BYU-Idaho extending its reach beyond its campus. Now, almost 10 years later and as a separate entity in the Church Educational System, BYU-Pathway Worldwide is bringing opportunity not only to tens of thousands of students participating in its programs but also to future generations of their families and the Church.

This past October, Elder Kim B. Clark, commissioner of the Church Educational System, addressed a group of financial donors in a talk entitled “BYU-Pathway Worldwide: A School in Zion.” He taught that BYU-Pathway has opened up the opportunity for education to those who previously believed it was not for them and who had little hope for a better future.

“We live in a day of miracles, when our Heavenly Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, are moving with power in the earth to build up the kingdom of God and establish Zion in preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ,” Elder Clark said. “It is a miracle today that we can say that BYU-Pathway is a school in Zion, wherever Zion is.”

One of the central attributes of Zion is “that every man may improve upon his talent, that every man may gain other talents, yea, even an hundred fold, to be cast into the Lord’s storehouse” (D&C 82:18). To help in this effort, BYU-Pathway focuses on access and affordability and has redesigned the traditional model of higher education to meet the needs of students across the Church. Not only does PathwayConnect teach life skills and confidence, the first part of a student’s degree program begins with a job-ready certificate, which leads to strengthened temporal and spiritual outcomes for students.

Even with the remarkable growth of BYU-Pathway, it is clear that its programs will increasingly become a larger part of members lives throughout the world. As a result, BYU-Pathway will be asking donors to help fund international students and support the growing number of returned missionaries enrolling in BYU-Pathway’s programs.

Brothers and sisters, I’m especially grateful for you and your willingness to support these students. By being a part of BYU-Pathway Worldwide, you are providing hope to thousands of Heavenly Father’s children across the earth. I look forward to what the next year will bring.